I 



On an Ichneumon hraiightfroni .Kgypi,-.. • 141. 



from hiftory, and has defcribed its habits with great pro-, 

 pnety. Two obfervations, however, which I had an op- 

 portunity of making, and which appear of importance, feem' 

 to have efcaped him. 



ift. That the animal has a kind of interior eye-lid, which 

 pafles oyer ihe gb'oe of the eye as in no<Sturnal birds; but 

 with this difference, that in the eye of owls this membrane 

 rifes and falls in a direftion which I would call perpendicu- 

 lar from the bill to the fummit of the head, while in the in- 

 dividual in quellion it proceeds laterally from the noftrils to 

 the ear; which induces me to believe that the animal fceks 

 its prey in the night-time. By means of this interior eye- 

 lid it contrafts the pupil at pleafure, and it muft then fee in 

 obfcurity, like the cats ; but in the latter the pupil is leflened 

 and dilated by contraction; whereas in this animal the fame 

 thing is effected without contradion^ and, as we may fay, 

 by mechanical means. 



2d. That the four toes of the fore- as well as hind-feet are 

 conne6led to each other Ijy a brown membrane without hair, 

 fuch as that of amphibious animals. I extended its toes 

 and examined this membrane, which is folded backwards, 

 fo that when the animal walks it is not feen. This certainly 

 indicates that the animal fwims with great facility. 



This character proves that it ought to be clafTed among 

 amphibious animals. Jcnfton fays of the ichneumon : — 

 " Amphiljium eft animal etad Niloticas ripascommoratur." 

 Aldrovandi alfo confiders it as amphibious : his words are : 

 " Ab ordinis ratione non cfTe alienum opinamur, fi pofl 

 lutram ichneumonis hiftoriam-rccenfeamus, quoniam ct ipfe 

 niter animalia aix<poizf,i^avra, id eft promifcuain aquis et terra 

 degentia, reponamur, ideoque a nonnullis lutra ^gypti nun- 

 ciipatur*.*' He quotes alio Strabo, who is of thc'limie opi- 

 nion, " Strabo quoque banc belluam aquatilem confiftcrc 

 videtur," 



Flowever, though thefe refpe£table authors have confidercd 

 this animal as amphibious \, none of them have mentioned 

 the fkin on its feet, which forms a kind of fins. Ariflotle, 

 Pliny, and Profper Alpinus, are etjually filent refpe6ting it. 

 Though this character fcems very eflenlial in the defcription 

 of an animal which frequents the banks of rivers; while, on 

 the other hand, they have carefully noticed this peculiarity in 

 the feet of the otter and in ihofe of the caftor. After what 



* Aldrovandi dc quad. flip. p. jgR. 



t I take tilt word anl-hib ot4s m the frimr fcnfc in wl.ich it was 

 taken by the aniicnts ; for this term, llridlly fpcakin^, can be apjilitd 

 only to the family of tJic /iour. 



has 



